Welcome, Guest: Register On Nairaland / LOGIN! / Trending / Recent / NewStats: 3,200,423 members, 7,974,731 topics. Date: Monday, 14 October 2024 at 10:22 AM |
Nairaland Forum / Nairaland / General / Culture / Igwe Ocha – Not Port Harcourt (5051 Views)
Body Of Igwe Henry Ekwueme, Eze Ndi Igbo In China, Lands In Lagos Airport / Corpse Of Igwe Henry Ekwueme, Eze Ndi Igbo In China Packaged; To Be Flown To Nig / Igwe Godwin Madu Buys Mercedes-benz G-wagen 2018 (Photos) (2) (3) (4)
Igwe Ocha – Not Port Harcourt by zuchyblink(m): 2:39pm On Oct 20, 2015 |
Igwe Ocha is the original name of the city
known today as Port Harcout.
|
Re: Igwe Ocha – Not Port Harcourt by zuchyblink(m): 2:41pm On Oct 20, 2015 |
THEY called him Lewis, Viscount Harcourt,
Secretary of State for the Colonies of Britain.
Harcourt was said to have founded a port in
the year 1912 now known and called Port
Harcourt, which is the capital city of the
present day Rivers State, Nigeria. But Rivers
State was created, as a state in Nigeria, in
the year1967.
But how did the rapacious Harcourt found
the now called Port Harcourt whereas there
were people (blacks) who were living in this
port before the alleged discovery, and they
called it Igwe Ocha? The population of Port
Harcourt is estimated at 1,320,214 as of the
year 2007, of which no lineage of Harcourt
was included. Igwe Ocha lies along the
Bonny River and is located in the Niger
Delta. We were meant to understand that
the initial purpose of the Port Harcourt
founded was for him to export the coal
which geologist Albert Ernest Kitson had
discovered in Enugu. That in earnest means
that there was a particular place, a small
place, where this greedy Harcourt was
using as his port, and should not mean the
whole of Igwe Ocha, now called Port
Harcourt. Still using the name Port Harcourt
reminds one of what happened in the days
of colonialism and the name Harcourt, in
Igwe Ocha, showcases the hand of
colonialism still intact in Nigeria.
However, after the equivocal Harcourt may
have died chasing the trade of coal,
Nigerians were enlightened on what goes
on in the present day Port Harcourt. We are
meant to understand that the main city of
Port Harcourt is the Port Harcourt City Local
Government Area. In this council there is
Azikiwe Road, Aggrey Road, Eastern Bye-
Pass, the beginnings of PHC-Aba Express
Road and Ikwere Road as its major roads.
And the Port Harcourt Urban Area (Port
Harcourt metropolis) is made up of the city
itself and Obio/Akpor Local Government
Area. Its major roads are the extensions of
PHC-Aba Express Road and Ikwere Road, Olu
Obasanjo Road, Airport Road, East-West
Road, Refinery Road, Stadium Roads and
amongs many others.
Abuloma, Amadi-ama, Amadi Flats,Borokiri
,Rumuokoro, Rumuodara, Woji, Presidential
Housing Estate, Rumibekwe Housing Estate,
Shell Residential Estate,and Elekahia Estate,
are towns or in African parlance villages in
the Igwe Ocha. The main industrial area is
located in Trans Amadi. But those who still
hold to the colonialists’ view said some of
Port Harcourt’s more popular and well-
known residential areas are Port Harcourt
Township; better known simply known as
“Town”, G.R.A phases 1-5.
The University of Port Harcourt and the
Rivers State University of Science and
Technology are two universities within the
city. According to accounts, the city has an
international airport, Port Harcourt
International Airport, two seaports (F.O.T
Onne, Port Harcourt Wharf), two stadia
(Sharks Stadium and Liberation Stadium)
and two refineries. As at 1967 when Rivers
State was created, there were fifteen Local
Government Areas (LGAs) in the State and
when Bayelsa State was carved out in 1996,
additional LGAs were created such that the
present Rivers State is made up of twenty
three LGAs. The State has many communities
that organise community development
efforts aimed at mobilising the local
resources and assisting the State
government in the maintenance of law and
order. And this is not done by Harcourt or
his descendants, if there are any.
The ethnic composition of Rivers State is
very diverse, according to analysis. These
include Kalabari, lkwerre, Okrika, lbani
(Bonny and Opobo) Ekpeye, Ogba, Etche,
Khana, Gokana, Eleme, Ndoni, Abua, Odual.
Linguistic scholars have grouped these
communities into six major linguistic
groups, namely ljoid, lower Niger (lgboid),
Ogoni, Central Delta, Delta Edoid, and Lower
Cross. The ljoid group comprises four
groups of dialects namely eastern ljoid
(Kalabari, Bile, Okrika, lbani and Nkoro).
The Lower Niger (lgboid) comprises dialects
such as Ekpeye, lkwerre, Ogba, Egbema,
Ndoni, Etche, and lgbo. The Ogoni group
includes a large number of dialects which
can be grouped into four Khana, Gokana,
Eleme and Tai. The Lower Cross group has
only one member in Rivers State, with the
rest being in Akwa lbom and Cross River
States. The language, Obolo, in this group, is
spoken in Andoni and Opobo Local
Government Areas (Salawu.
Like in other world’s democracies, we are
told that there are three arms of
government in Rivers State. they include,
The Executive Council; The Legislature; and
The Judiciary. The State Executive Council is
made up of the Governor, the Deputy
Governor, and around 20 commissioners,
special advisers and the Secretary to the
State government. The commissioners are
the overall heads of the ministries, while the
permanent secretaries oversee the daily
activities of the same ministries. The
parastatals are organs of the government
charged with the establishment and
running of certain key economic areas of
the State government. They are placed
either under the supervision of the
Governor or the Deputy Governor. The
special advisers are assigned
responsibilities in the following areas to
enhance productivity and accountability:
education, information, hotels and tourism
etc.
We are also told that there is block called the
Podium Block of Rivers State Secretariat,
which is the icon of the city, an eighteen-
storey building. It has the tallest building in
the South/South and South/East Geopolitical
zones combined. The city is sprawling in
nature as building codes and zoning
regulations are poorly enforced.
Igwe Ocha being a peace-loving town
before the advent of Harcourt, the activities
of several armed militant gangs have cast a
huge shadow on life and commerce in the
once peaceful town, in recent times. The
gangs claim to fight for the interest of the
indigenous people of Rivers State and the
Niger Delta region of Nigeria, without going
to fight Harcourt who exploited the land.
These gangs are asking for a share of
Nigeria’s oil wealth. They are however
better noted and feared for violent conduct
that includes random and targetted killings,
arson, kidnappings of both foreign workers
and indigenous people and bombings. After
a spate of violence in 2007, a curfew was
imposed on the town. This was however
lifted by the Governor of Rivers State in the
last days of 2007. On new year’s eve, 2007,
Port Harcourt was once again rocked by
violence which left at least sixteen people
dead.
So, should we still continue to answer the
name of this English man who looted us?
What remembrance is there in answering
Harcourt’s Port, instead of Igwe Ocha? Igwe
Ocha is African, not Harcourt. We have to
look into this and make amends. The same
is applicable to those who bear the white
man’s names. For what reason should the
clergy prefer to baptize a child with the
name of a white man instead of our local
names? It is high time we began to look into
most of these errors the white men caused
us and begin to correct them; else we
remain a people so confused forever. |
Re: Igwe Ocha – Not Port Harcourt by elbringo: 9:10pm On Jul 13, 2016 |
Your piece is quite inspiring but there are countless amount of places in the world named by the British that still exist to today. Port Harcourt is a lovely name and shows its a place for anyone. The name Igwe Ocha sounds Igbo and more so they named everything else to suit the English language like Bonny, Okrika, Buguma, Abonema, Ikwerre and we all loving the names. |
Re: Igwe Ocha – Not Port Harcourt by 1shortblackboy: 2:49am On Jul 14, 2016 |
of what economic or social benefit will it be to change the name ? we have more serious issues to deal with please. meanwhile for ur education Igwe ocha is the name the igbos called the place. there was no one name used for the whole city cause it was not a city before the Port was established. there were various ikwerre villages under the collective name of diobu town there were other ikwerre towns like rumueme which later became incorporated into the City now known as port Harcourt. there were also Okrika villages. it wouldn't have been appropriate to name the new city by the name of any one tribe so the neutral name of Harcourt was approved by Lugard.............. Africans just like mundane things. we're talking of development ur talking about nomenclature 2 Likes |
Re: Igwe Ocha – Not Port Harcourt by Heartbender: 12:41pm On Nov 01, 2018 |
You are a good scholar with prejudice. Port Harcourt was never called Igwe Ocha except perhaps as a name for it in Igbo just as people have names for Igbo towns and ethnicity in Rivers state. The original name of Port Harcourt is "Obomotu" and it was initially owned by the people of Abuloma (and by extension Okrikans) and Diobu/ Elekahia people. But you are a Biafran, and I pray you fine tune your scholarship so there won't be regrets and unpleasant consequences. Shalom 3 Likes |
Re: Igwe Ocha – Not Port Harcourt by HarryDuce(m): 12:34am On Nov 02, 2018 |
Heartbender:This is the first time I'm hearing this. Do you have a source? reference? You have to back up your claims. As for the OP, We started hearing "Igwe Ocha" from 2015: A recent trend. The reason for this is very obvious. 4 Likes |
Re: Igwe Ocha – Not Port Harcourt by Heartbender: 10:07am On Nov 02, 2018 |
Google Obomotu and read the case of Woluchem V. Gudi HarryDuce: 1 Like |
Re: Igwe Ocha – Not Port Harcourt by magicjack: 9:31am On Nov 03, 2018 |
i ve heard of this, but ive always wondered how was a town of mixed ijaw, ikwerre n ogoni tribe given an ikwerre nam forget media politics, Ph is not as bad as they portray, infact in comparism to many other south south cities Ph is one of the most peaceful ones, i luv pitakwa |
Re: Igwe Ocha – Not Port Harcourt by HarryDuce(m): 9:47am On Nov 03, 2018 |
Heartbender:Okay. Thanks 1 Like |
Re: Igwe Ocha – Not Port Harcourt by fero007: 4:30pm On Nov 03, 2018 |
elbringo: yah i prefer d name port harcourt too, for one it sounds sweeter and again i dont think giving a multiethnic city an igbo name is a good idea, it may make ijaws n ogonis feel overshadowed, giving how tribal sensitive rivers state n the niger delta as a whole can be 1 Like |
Re: Igwe Ocha – Not Port Harcourt by Banmeallday: 6:51pm On Nov 05, 2018 |
Port Harcourt LOL Nawah for Africa.... See the person who gave Nigger Area their identity till date
|
Re: Igwe Ocha – Not Port Harcourt by Nobody: 3:44pm On Nov 06, 2018 |
Banmeallday:port harcourt still remains the best name for the city tho. 2 Likes |
Re: Igwe Ocha – Not Port Harcourt by Ifiokumo: 7:44pm On Nov 08, 2018 |
ThatIjawBoy: Please go and sleep https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gv9jtgGwtrk&t=3s |
Re: Igwe Ocha – Not Port Harcourt by Nobody: 10:05pm On Nov 08, 2018 |
Ifiokumo:like I said before ph is still the best name for the city. 3 Likes |
(1) (Reply)
Ela In Creation Myth Of Yoruba As The First Word Spoken By Eledumare / How To Identify An Igbo Man In Nigeria / Brief History Of The Okun (yoruba) People Of Kogi State
(Go Up)
Sections: politics (1) business autos (1) jobs (1) career education (1) romance computers phones travel sports fashion health religion celebs tv-movies music-radio literature webmasters programming techmarket Links: (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8) (9) (10) Nairaland - Copyright © 2005 - 2024 Oluwaseun Osewa. All rights reserved. See How To Advertise. 38 |